1. Field of the Art
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus capable of recording characters, and indicating currently selected one of a plurality of recording modes of each of at least two recording conditions selected from a plurality of recording conditions such as recording direction, size and color, and a line spacing between adjacent print lines. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an indicator device for providing mode indication symbols indicative of the current recording modes of two or more recording conditions in such a recording apparatus.
2. Related Art Statement
The assignee of the present application developed a recording apparatus of the type indicated above, which includes a plurality of selector keys corresponding to at least two recording conditions as described above, as well as many character keys corresponding to characters such as letters, numerals and symbols. When a given recording condition is changed from one recording mode to another by the corresponding selector key, the newly selected recording mode is indicated by an appropriate indication symbol. This indication symbol appears on a screen of a suitable indicator device, which is adapted to display characters entered through the character keys. When two or more recording conditions, for example, the recording size and color and the line spacing are changed simultaneously, appropriate three indication symbols corresponding to the changed three conditions appear on the indicator device, to indicate the newly selected recording modes.
In the recording apparatus described above, however, the mode indication symbols displayed on the indicator device more or less disturb the operator in recognizing or perceiving the recording data displayed on the indicator device. Further, those indication symbols must be different from commonly used symbols such as "+", "%", "$". Accordingly, the use of the indication symbols causes an increase in the number of display patterns required and the amount of the display pattern data stored in a memory.